SCHMIDT, ANTON MARIA. - Swiss political figure and general from the Canton of Uri, b. Nov. 9, 1792, d. 1880.
After participating in 1823, as a captain, in the Spanish campaign in the French ranks, he served as *Landmann* and *Landeshauptmann* of Uri from 1824 to 1838, assuming command of a brigade of the Catholic cantons during the Sonderbund War. He then
SCHMID, Alois von. - Philosopher and theologian, b. Dec. 22, 1825 at Zaumberg bei Immenstadt (Bavaria), d. Mar. 16, 1910 in Munich. After completing his studies in Augsburg and Munich, he entered
the service of the Holy See and in 1855 became colonel of the first foreign regiment. In this capacity, he distinguished himself by routing, on June 21, 1859, the revolutionaries who had seized the city of Perugia (q.v.).
The following year, during the Piedmontese invasion of the Papal States, he led the first brigade as a general. His delay between September 10 and 13 in suppressing volunteer columns from Tuscany near Città della Pieve left him unaware of the outbreak of hostilities with the kingdoms and of General Fanti’s corps marching on Perugia, preventing him from joining the main Pontifical forces that General de La Moricière (q.v.) was already concentrating along the Spoleto-Foligno-Ancona axis. Returning rapidly to Perugia on the morning of the 14th, he found it already encircled by a large force of regular Piedmontese troops and barely managed, after fierce street fighting, to barricade himself in the Rocca Paolina. The steadfast resistance offered by S. against Fanti throughout the day, despite the overwhelming disparity in men and materiel, had the significant effect of allowing de La Moricière’s rearguards to cross the Apennines unobstructed by forced marches. Transferred as a prisoner to Piedmont, S. subsequently returned to Switzerland with a passport issued by Cavour.